Premiere: Freak Wave’s Debut Album ‘Don’t Let Me Down’

The five guys in Freak Wave have been around the punk scene for a bit. Check the promo pic. There’s more hair on their chins than on top of their heads, and though they probably still worry when a pair of Vans start falling apart they are getting to the age of worrying about how much super they have.

But that’s cool, the Melbourne band have done time in some of the best melodic punks bands of the last decade including Blueline Medic, A Death in the Family, Mid Youth Crisis and Kill Whitey.

Their upcoming album Don’t Let Me Down celebrates the kind of melody and rousing punk that was being released on Californian labels like Alias, Headhunter and Goldenrod in the mid 90s. Check the track “Tyre Kicker” with vocalist Neil Moog hitting just the right amount of hoarseness and urgency backed with some powerful guitar fuzz from some guy wearing a flannel shirt.

On the eve of Don’t Let Me Down’s release we chatted to Neil Moog about San Diego punk and getting older.

Noisey: Your sound brings to mind the melodic indie/punk bands such as Samiam, Knapasck, Smile, Heatmiser and Fluf. Is this music that you all are into?

Neil Moog: We’re all massive fans of music in general. From 80s skate-punk to indie labels like SST/Dischord/Sub Pop/Merge, to the classic roots of punk in the 60s and 70s like The Who, Hendrix, Grand Funk Railroad, Stooges and the MC5. I was totally into the Headhunter stuff in the 90s. I’m pretty sure I kept that label financially afloat; I have just about everything the label ever released. As well as Smile and Fluf and the likes of Drive Like Jehu and RFTC, they also had fucking great bands like Inch, Heavy Vegetable, Thingy, Garden Variety, Drip Tank and The Firebird Band. All those bands were so influential to me in my twenties; I’m so stoked that you can hear that in our music!

Melody (both in guitars and vocals) were always a big factor in those bands. As you get older do you find yourself drawn more to melody and harmony?

For sure. I used to hate the Beach Boys, now I love them. I guess as you grow older you find more melody and harmony not just in music, but in the beauty of life. At least I have. I can’t really listen to music without that anymore.

Some of you are fathers. There is the track “A Period of Juvenile Prosperity”. It would be cool to hand that to your teenage child and tell them ‘been there/done that’.

It’s important to let your kids discover their own path through life though. All you can is to try and give them the knowledge that you have discovered through your own journey, so that they can then make their own well-informed decisions. On one hand you don’t want them to make the same mistakes you made yourself, but on the other hand, those mistakes can lead to a much more enlightened path.

‘Don’t Let Me Down’ is out on Poison City Records June 6.

Catch Freak Wave

June 6 in Melbourne at Public Bar

June 13 in Sydney at Blackwire

June 14 in Brisbane at Crowbar

June 15 in Brisbane at Tym Guitars

June 17 in Melbourne at 170 Russell with the Bronx